The Journey -
Bydgoszcz to Ilawa on Rosy

Our stay at Bydgoszcz went on and on and on.  The weather rained on us every day, and we began to get fidgety and frustrated.  Eventually, on our tenth day there (Friday 13th May), we had an OK weather window, and we were off, locking down onto the river Vistula.

We were extremely glad that we had waited, as in the rain and the associated poor visibility, we would have had BIG problems.

The Vistula was flowing much faster than we had anticipated.  It cracked along at 6 kph.  The river is quite wide, more than 500 metres in many places, and the channel meanders from side to side.  A marker on the bank you are near warns you that you must cross over to the other bank, and there is a marker on the other bank to show you where you ought to be heading for.  Unfortunately, the markers on the near side often suddenly appear amongst the rather dense undergrowth, and the markers on the far side are often extremely hard to locate - even in good visibility - with binoculars.  In the rain (with its associated poor visibility) it would be nearly impossible.  Our three pairs of eyes managed to keep us roughly on track.  Actually, we had a good margin of error, as the rain of the previous nine or ten days meant that the river level was 40 or 50 cm higher than it should have been.

Anyway, we were hurried down the river by the current through, mainly, open countryside.  However, some of the towns that we swept by were stunning.  I was especially captivated by Grudziadz.  The approach was not exciting - plonk Soviet style apartment blocks on a prominent ridge.  But then, around the corner and under the bridge, and the old town came into view.  It was an important town for the Teutonic Knights, and was a centre for the grain trade.  Set beside the river is a massive brick structure, entered by a roadway that leads up a ramp and through a triumphal (and defensible) gateway.  The view from the river is of high rising brick walls, very heavily buttressed, as these were the important granaries.  The granaries are topped by residencies.  We whisked by all too quickly.

After a 12 hour and 124 km cruise we arrived at the river Nogat.  We went past it, then turned upstream, and worked our way back up to it, suddenly leaving the rush of the Vistula behind us for a still pool of water.  We were immediately faced with a large lock.  A large CLOSED lock.  By 'closed' I mean REALLY closed.  Closed with bloody stop-planks!!!

Our enquiries revealed that we could get through on Monday.

The workmen worked on the Saturday to remove all the stop-planks.  There seemed to be dozens of workmen, doing not very much.  I went to the nearby village shop-cum-bar to find even more lock-workers there, drinking copious quantities of beer.  They lifted the last stop-plank spot on knocking off time.

Sunday was a day of rest.

Monday came, and we were ready for 7am.  Ah!!  They said.  10 am?  Fine we said.  10 am was, of course, their tea break, so we got through, eventually, at 10:45.  Grrrrrrrr!!!

The Nogat is a pretty river, with a fair amount of wild life on it.  It has no distant views, as it is encased on either side by flood banks.  Its current was only 1 or 2 kph (going with us), but we still made good progress.  The few locks were ready for us, and our only difficulty was to find a tap to top up our water tanks.

We eventually arrived at Malbork (was Marienburg).  The town and river is dominated by a magnificent brick fortress that was originally built by the Teutonic Knights, but was taken over the ruling family after the Polish people won a great battle against the Knights.  We spent the night in the shadows of its walls, having checked for Poste Restante mail in the post office, acquired money from a cash machine, food from some shops and an internet connection at an internet café.

We left the following morning in glorious sunshine which, after an hour, clouded over, then became drizzle, which in turn transmuted into very much heavier rain and a really bitter wind.  We met a hurdle in the form of a ferry, with the ferrymen seeking shelter ashore, whilst leaving the wire hawser (used to operate their ferry) strung three feet above the river.  They eventually moved it for us, and a few yards further on we turned off the river, and into a short canal that would take us to Elblag - but in that weather??  No fear!  We moored, lit fires, had hot drinks, hot food and an early night.

The following day, we ambled along to Elblag.  Ghastly approaches - decaying factories and warehouses - all still being used.  We spied a yacht club and went in, being rewarded with a hose pipe, and WATER.  Oh!  Frabjous day.  Callooo!!  Callay!!

The centre of Elblag looked quite pretty, with an unusual church spire - we will explore the town on our way back.

On!  On!  To our goal - the purpose of the entire trip - a dream that has been with me for ten years or more … the five, water-powered, inclined planes.

The Elblag Canal brought timber etc. from the interior down to Elblag - which is on the coast.  There is about a 100m drop down to the coastal plain.  Originally, the canal was built with four inclined planes and a bottom lock, but the planes were so successful that the lock was eventually rebuilt as the fifth inclined plane.

In brief:

Water is used to turn a water wheel, which in turn drives a massive steel drum around which there is a wire rope.  This rope is led out to a large pulley which alters the direction of the steel rope and leads it down the inclined plane.  Further pulleys at the bottom of the plane turn and lead the steel rope back up to the top of the plane, where yet another massive pulley guides the steel rope back to the steel drum.  Hence there is a continuous steel rope around the drum and up and down the inclined plane.

In the canal at the bottom of the inclined plane, a large trolley is permanently attached to the steel rope that is to go up the inclined plane: and in the canal at the top of the inclined plane is another trolley attached to the steel rope that is to go down the inclined plane.

When the water wheel turns, the drum turns and the steel rope takes one trolley down the inclined plane, and the other trolley up it.

If the drum is now rotated in the opposite direction, the trolleys will return to their original positions.  Place a boat on one of the trolleys and it will be moved up (or down) the inclined plane.  Ditto, obviously if there is a boat on each of the trolleys.

The trolleys run on rails, and the wire rope runs down between the two rails, being kept from dragging on the ground by a series of little pulleys.

Between the lifts are pounds of about 1km in length, which, of course, also act as reservoirs for the water that is used to turn the breast-shot water-wheels;  the used water being fed down to the next lower pound.

The whole thing is remarkably efficient, quiet, and ecologically sound.  A bit expensive in manpower, as two men are employed on each lift - one in the engine house, and an overseer to keep an eye on the boats and to tell the engine man when to start the ascent/descent.

I'll get some pictures up about this when they come back from the developers which, I fear, won't be for several months.

The canal was built to about a 3m gauge, so Rosy and Temujin felt reasonably at home on the trolleys.  Floating the boats onto the trolleys was easy, though we rejected the designer's method of attachment of boat to trolley in favour of our own, which aimed to keep the boat along the centre line of the trolley.  Mike and June took Temujin up the first lift, and then Mike came back to help me with Rosy, though by the end of the fourth lift I had devised a d-i-y system, and took Rosy up the last lift aided (?) only by Fanny the Woof.

Two or three trip boats a day leave Ostroda and Elblag to take tourists to the lifts.

We only got up two of the lifts before closing time (they only work from 10am to 5pm), so moored at the third lift ready for the next morning.

During the day, the weather slowly improved, until the day ended in bright, warm sunshine.

The next day, our progress was much delayed by trip boats who have priority over us pleasure boaters.  Annoying, but understandable, as without the trip boat business I'm sure that the lift would have to close down.  Incidentally, the charge for using each lift was the same as the charge for using a Polish lock - about UKP 1.

Above the lifts the canal meandered through woodland, reed beds, marshes and lakes, with a profusion of wild life - sooty terns, a jay, a male marsh harrier and warblery things - I always assume that they are reed warblers, but there are so many variants that I assume that many of my reed warblers are actually something else.  We eventually arrived at a spot where the canal entered another lake.  At the junction there was a waterways house and some small boats moored - obviously used as fishing boats in the lakes.  On the opposite bank there were some convenient trees to which we moored.

The next day was quite long for us, but delightful.  The canal continued its way through woodland, and then passed through farm land - small, family farms, with a few cows scavenging on the towing path, and restricted in movement by a four or five foot long piece of tree attached to a chain around their necks - so that as they walked, the log dragged on the ground between their front legs.

The bridge 'oles were 3m wide and 3.5m high, so the narrowboats felt quite at home.  Then through some small lakes until eventually we got onto the big lakes - part of the wonderful Mazurian lakes complex.  Lots of sailing yachts, not too many buzzy sports boats - and us.

The scenery was superb - not dissimilar to the Mecklenburg lakes, except that the countryside is a bit hillier.  In the main, development is restricted to one side of the lake, and the left is 'natural' - managed woodland, with the break between forest and water being softened by golden (when the sun shines on them) reed beds.

We arrived at the town of Ewava (I've written it phonetically, it is actually Ilawa - the second letter is actually a special Polish letter that looks like a crossed out 'l' but is pronounced 'w'.

We had had a long day, but I went to do a bit of shopping.  In the evening we discovered that our mooring was THE place to be if you were a courting couple (several such rolling in the grass) or a teenager - 13 of them drinking beer beside the boat.  They were all very interested in what we were doing, and didn't get raucously drunk or belligerent.  Indeed, two even pitched up on the next morning to take Mike and June (as agreed) to a nearby (3km) HUGE supermarket.  Meanwhile, Mike and June had assumed that the two would not appear AND that 3 km was too far to walk for shopping, and went to the small local stores instead.  Hence when the two lads appeared, I was left to deal with them.  AND we had a very good time.  One spoke excellent English, and told me that Ewava had been founded by the Teutonic Knights.  The Knights' religious beliefs required them to be in Knightly quarters each night, so their towns and fortresses were all with a days march/ride of each other (about 30 km).

If you happen to visit Ilawa by boat, there are several moorings available - our free ones, others in marinas and boat yards.  If your beam is 3m or less, and you can get your air draught down to about 2.75m, be brave and go through the little bridge into the prettified town lake, where you can pirouette around a fountain - just like we did - AND entertain the local population.  A concrete quay at the far end puts you onto the main shopping street.

Avoid filling with water in Ilawa - there is practically no pressure there - it took Temujin an hour to fill up.

The next day (Saturday 21 May) we started back towards Ostroda, mooring at a comfortable wooden landing stage on one of the several side lakes.

Next day, Sunday - (for me, today) Fanny the Woof had her first swim for ages - there was a gentle, sloping entry to water, which she loves.

We pootled on, and moored near to the junction with the Elblagski Canal.  Tomorrow we will pass through a lock on our way to Ostroda, and then there will be a few more lakes to explore.

On!!  On!!

Toodle pip!!

Bill

(Editor's note: Along with this episode, Bill has also sent an account of European Boating Rules and Regulations, which you can read here.  In addition, Bill sent me a postcard of the boat lift, a scan of which appears on this page.)